Orange zest question

[floydmeddler]

Hi folks,

Brewed a Blonde Honey Ale last wknd with the hope of a zesty outcome. I used orange zest for this (having experienced success in the past when I was an extract brewer) but this time I can't really get the zesty notes coming through. Do you reckon it would be OK to 'dry hop' (as it were) some orange zest when I rack it on Sunday? I don't see why this would be a problem as long as I don't introduce any nasties.

Thoughts to overcome this so far:

Take around 200ml of the beer and boil it up with the orange zest for around 5 mins. Chill, add to secondary then transfer the rest on top of it. Reckon this is pretty safe? Any nods of agreement / head shakes of horror?

Cheers.

P.S, don't you just love sipping a homebrew after a hard week's work? Aaaaaahhhhh...

[stevezx7r]

I think your method is pretty sound, but like you say, as long as the nasties are kept at bay

You could always choose some zesty hops and use those instead Plus, hops have an antiseptic quality so that should limit the possibility of introducing any nasties

[aceuass]

I made a weiss and wanted a bit more orange in the taste so I added the zest of 2 oranges into about 2oz of contreau as I was also concerned with nasties and the alcohol should kill any, added to secondary
It worked out great
Cheers
Paul

[floydmeddler]

Brilliant. Cheers lads.